Video: Pope beatifies Cardinal Newman on final day of state visit

Cardinal Newman died in 1890

At an open air mass in Birmingham earlier today, Pope Benedict XVI beatified Cardinal John Henry Newman, a British convert to Catholicism who some claim was in a gay relationship with fellow convert Ambrose St. John. The beatified process brings the former Anglican cleric a step closer to sainthood.

Newman was a pillar of the Oxford Movement, which tried to bring the Anglican church back to its Roman Catholic roots. After this failed he converted to Roman Catholicism, becoming probably the second most significant convert from the Church of England to Roman Catholicism after former prime minister Tony Blair.

When St John died, Newman wrote: “it is the greatest affliction I have had in my life….he was my earthly light.” He asked to be buried next to St John shortly before his death stating: “I wish, with all my heart, to be buried in Father Ambrose St John’s grave – and I give this as my last, my imperative will.”

The Vatican insist that double graves were commonplace and that the pair had a platonic relationship.

During today’s mass, which took place on the 70th anniversary of the Battle of Britain, Pope Benedict XVI told the crowd near Coventry: “For me as one who lived and suffered through the dark days of the Nazi regime in Germany, it is deeply moving to be here with you on this occasion and to recall how many of your fellow citizens sacrificed their lives, courageously resisting the forces of that evil ideology.”

“Seventy years later, we recall with shame and horror the dreadful toll of death and destruction that war brings in its wake, and we renew our resolve to work for peace and reconciliation wherever the threat of conflict looms.”